If you work in human resources, then you are fully aware that people
are always trying to reach you. Whether it’s by email, phone, dropping
into the office…whatever, “feeling wanted” is certainly something that
all of us can relate to in HR. And chances are, if someone is trying to
reach you, it is likely because they want or need something. Personally, I’m still waiting for that call from an employee that just says, “No, I don’t need anything…just wanted to tell you to have a nice day.” (Let me know if any of you get that call in HR anytime soon!)
Woody Allen is attributed with saying, “Showing up is 80 percent of
life.” I would argue that in HR and in many fields, “showing up” is even
more critical. What I mean by showing up is not just making your way
into work and settling into your desk…I mean actually “being there for
your customer.”
Before making the decision to make human resources my career, I
worked for a number of years managing a financial services contact
center. My team was comprised of 60-80 employees (depending upon the
time of year) that answered calls from investors from across the
country. Anyone who has managed in a call center environment knows that
to be successful, you need to consistently find that “sweet spot” where speed and quality service is
converged. Yes, we needed to answer and complete our calls quickly, but
we also needed to do so in a manner that provided personal, accurate,
and quality customer service. I believe that managing in that
environment for a number of years has helped to make me a more effective
human resources professional by adapting that same “customer first”
concept in my day-to-day interactions. With that, I have five guidelines
that I would like to share that I think are applicable in most human
resources environments.
- Be There
Well, this seems pretty simple…If you’re not “there” whether at work
or in your personal life how can you be effective? When I say “there” I
mean more than just your physical presence. Besides picking up the
phone, reading the email, or opening your door…being there means
listening, seeing, and providing your whole self when called upon. That
is what I refer to “being there.”
Most employees that seek us out don’t have the same level of
expertise, whether it is in employment law, company policies, etc., and
quite frankly, they don’t need to…that is what they pay us for! In HR,
we are being sought out for a reason, so being there and being
accessible is the first key to providing a high level of service.
- Be Responsive
Once you’ve met the first step by “being there”, what comes next?
It’s time to respond. Your response will demonstrate whether you were
really “there” and if you heard and understood the need. In my opinion,
there are two major components of a response: speed and content. How quickly do you respond to voice mails and emails? Early in my career, I worked under a customer service standard of “if I receive a message before 12pm, I respond by the end of day….after 12pm, by 12pm the next business day.” Today,
I still try to respond to non-urgent issues in this same manner. The
response may be that I don’t yet have an answer yet but will get back to
you. This is letting the person know that their message was received
and that I will be responding. The other important component is the
actual content of your response. Did you answer their question? Did you
provide them with other resources? Did you offer to answer additional
questions? Providing complete and timely responses is not just good
customer service, but it should also be a goal to strive for in all
aspects of your life whether it responding to employees, a relative or a
friend…just be responsive!
- Take Ownership
Due to the complexity of our human resources profession, in many
larger organizations, our HR functions are often segmented into
functional groups where practitioners are referred to as “specialists.”
This can help these individuals and teams develop expertise within
complicated functions, but it can also lead to the classic “silo
effect.” Unfortunately, I’ve worked in several offices where the common
response to inquiries was, “sorry, you’ll need to call…” (translation:
not my problem!) I get it, I may work in “Talent Acquisition” and you
work in “Payroll” but for the person calling, they are calling “HR.” It
may be nuanced, but when I receive an inquiry that is outside of my
functional area, I try to respond with something like this:
“Thanks for contacting our office with your payroll question, I
am including Jenny our Payroll & Benefits Specialist in my reply as
she would be the person best able to respond to you.”
Now this may appear that I’m “passing the buck” but rather, I’m
notifying my colleague that there is a question that they should answer,
it lets the customer know that we received their inquiry and that we
will be responding, and hopefully lets the customer know that in the
future, payroll questions can be best answered by Jenny. This approach
is in contrast to some that I have seen (recently) which have looked
more like:
“I’m not in Payroll, you’ll need to contact Jenny.”
OR
“Hey, Jenny someone has a Payroll question, can you tell them not to call me!?!”
If you are an “HR Department of One”, for better or worse, ownership
is not an issue; but in a larger organization, having a sense of
ownership for the whole team, not just your functional area, can provide
a more positive customer experience.
- Be Realistic (under promise, over deliver)
To respond appropriately, we need to know what we “can and cannot
do.” Like it or not, in HR we work under sets of rules, policies and
laws. If you are like me, you try to do what you can within these
constraints, but it helps no one if we make promises that we cannot
keep. For a simple example, promising that you will respond to someone
in the next day knowing that you will be out on vacation for the next
week is probably not a recommended response and will just result in a
frustrated customer. Where HR professionals can really get into real hot
water is when they promise things that they truly have no control over.
We cannot always say “yes” to every employee request, so look for
options and alternatives, show genuine empathy with your customers, but
most importantly, be realistic.
- Follow Up
Do you follow up on issues, or do you just assume that they are
resolved and move on to the next? I realize that workload and time
constraints do not always allow for through follow up, but when you are
able, I have found that this provides an even higher level of customer
service to our employees when we are able to check back on them. I am
not able to do so in all cases, but I do try to put reminders on my
calendar to follow up on issues that I previously dealt with. A simple
email or phone call just to “check-in” on an employee shows them that
their issue was important, that they should have confidence in
contacting our office, and shows them that they matter. Our goal when
dealing with our internal customers should not be to just get them off
the phone or out of our office, but truly resolve their issues.
Sometimes this means taking time to follow up to make sure the issue was
resolved or that no other related issues have emerged. Finding the
time to follow up provides a great return on that investment in time.
In closing, there are so many ways that we as human resources
professionals can make a positive impact on our employees and our
organizations by remembering some basic customer service concepts. It’s
not always enough to process the transaction, file the form, or fill the
requisition…taking the effort to remember that our employees are our
internal customers is what can help transform an average human resources
team into one that takes it to the next level toward world-class
service. Employees will notice this, and some simple interactions human
resources can ripple positively throughout the organizations.
It all starts by “Being There.”
Originally posted on the HR Sushi Bar blog.
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